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This study investigated the informal science education (ISE) field to determine whether it currently functions as an effective community of practice. Research questions included: How do professionals describe and self-identify their practice, including what missions, goals and motivating factors influence their professional work? What challenges do they face and how are these resolved? Is participation in ISE activities perceived as core or peripheral to their work? Open-ended interviews were conducted with high-level representatives of 17 different ISE sub-communities; results were analyzed qualitatively. Findings showed this broad assortment of ISE sub-communities as not currently functioning as a cohesive community of practice. Although examples of shared practice and ways of talking were found, evidence of widespread, active relationship-building over time and coalescence around issues of common concern were absent. A current "map" of the ISE community is proposed and thoughts about how this map could alter in the future are suggested.

The Lawrence Hall of Science, a science center, seeks to replicate real-world engineering at the Ingenuity in Action exhibit, which consists of three open-ended challenges. These problems encourage children to engage in engineering design processes and problemsolving techniques through tinkering. We observed and interviewed 112 visitor groups at the exhibit to understand how children engage in engineering behaviors extracted from the steps of a design process and to what extent they are aware of these processes. We found that all but one group exhibited engineering behaviors, and facilitation and collaboration positively correlated with engineering behaviors. The Ingenuity in Action exhibit establishes a successful framework of designing for engineering learning.